Maybe Lyr didn’t have faith in her powers, but I did.
And yet, as my wings carried us into the air, fear spilled through my blood.
I laid my sister down on an island’s grassy shore. She’d gone limp again, eyes closed. Our gleaming magic twined together, shimmering with silver on the mist.
I should feel whole again, reunited with my twin.
This was my great moment of victory. The first part of my destiny achieved.
This was a moment of jubilation. Red light crawled over the sky, soaking my skin in ruddy rays. The goddess Anat—my mother—heralded my triumph.
Next, we’d ascend to the heavens, Shahar and I. Just as I’d wanted for eons, I’d be leaving this earth for good—this place of torment.
People thought Gehenna was hell. My little fire pit. And, of course, it was. But the truth was that all of this was hell. Here, on the ground, cruelty reigned.
I brushed my sister’s silver hair out of her face. “Shahar.”
Her eyes looked dull as worn rocks.
A flicker of panic sparked in my mind. Was her mind gone for good?
I cupped her face, and her eyes sharpened—pale blue streaked with coral. Those colors had lived in my mind since the dawn of time.
Her silver hair floated around her head like she was still underwater. At last, she focused on me.
My chest unclenched a little. She was here, with me, my twin. She slid one of her hands over mine, staring into my eyes. “Salem.” Her voice cracked.
“It took me a long time to find you. I didn’t know you were still alive.”
Her eyes flicked to the sky, and she stared at the setting sun. That was where we belonged. Away from here.
I only had a few days left—a deadline etched in stone. Would Anat help us rise to the heavens now, or did I still have some task I needed to complete?
“Salem,” she said again, her gaze locked on me, now sharp and keen as the morning star. “What’s wrong with you?”
What was wrong with me? I’d just dredged her up from the bottom of the ocean, screaming and flailing. I’d saved her. I was fine. “What are you talking about? Everything is going according to plan. We’re going to return to the heavens.”
“So what’s wrong with you?” she repeated. “Why do you look like you want to jump off a cliff?”
My sister and I were never ones for small talk. But I would have preferred it right now—a bit of “what have you been doing in the past one hundred years,” or “let me catch you up on my century in the watery sea hell,” or “how about this sun we’re getting?” Instead, she was reading my soul and forcing me to confront it. A habit of hers. And already, my mind was on Aenor. The water lapping at the shore now felt hot, steam curling off it.
What if I’d left my mate to die?
It wasn’t really a thrilling moment of triumph when you felt like your ribs were piercing your heart.
This wasn’t a victory. This was bones scattered over a battlefield, crushed into the dirt. This was falling from the heavens, my soul ripped from my body.
All wrong.
“I have to go, Shahar.” I pulled away from her. “I’ll find you again.”
Shahar’s silver-blue magic beamed around her body now. “Fix whatever it is. I’m going to find my cats.” She spoke to me in the language of the gods, and her voice reverberated in my mind. Hardly a whisper.
Did she realize that all of her cats had died over a hundred years ago? I’d have to catch her up on that later when the sea wasn’t boiling my soulmate alive.
My wings lifted me into the evening sky, and my body cast a shadow over the water as I flew. The sea wind whipped over my body. I flew back to where I had left Aenor, my heart pounding against my ribs like a war drum.
My destiny was in the heavens, the celestial realm. But before I left—I needed Aenor to be safe.
My soul commanded it.
When I swept over the island where I’d left her, I found a battle raging. Smoke curled into the air, some of the knights burning with flames. Lyr was among them, moving in a maelstrom of dark magic. But the knights seemed to be winning the battle.
One of them threw something at me—a spear. Idiot.
I arced out of the way. The scent of burned flesh curled into the air. A red banner of fear unfurled in me. It smelled like Gehenna.
Now, my blood roared in my ears. Frantically, I searched the battle for signs of Aenor, for her blue hair gleaming among all the rabble. I didn’t see her among them, and dread swept over me like dark smoke.
Had I left her to die?
Over my thundering pulse, I tried to think clearly. I would have felt it. If she’d died, I would have felt the last ember of light go out in my chest. I was sure of it.
In my panic, I’d nearly forgotten the enchantment. I could find her, of course, wherever she went. Fear made people stupid, didn’t it? What a useless emotion.
Swooping through the air, I let my magic boom around me. She’d hear it, wherever she was. She’d know I was coming for her.
In my mind’s eye, I saw her then, trapped beneath the icy water—a tomb of cold. I felt her loneliness carving through me. Then the sharp tug of my bond to her. It was like a cord pulled me to her through the air.
I angled my wings, diving fast for the water. Just before I hit the surface, I let my wings fade away. The velocity of my flight propelled me fast through the cool water.
Her magic skimmed over my skin. She was chilling the waters even now.
It took me a few moments before I saw her beautiful glow, the pearly green and blue that lured me closer. My siren, drawing me in. At the seafloor, she floated by herself just above a large swath of ice.
Her body pulled me closer like the moon pulled the tide.
Her eyes were on me. Not angry, just curious. Her magic beamed around her.
As I reached her, her brow furrowed. “I can’t leave here.”
Her morgen’s voice carried through the water. I had no such skill. I mouthed, “Why?”
“I have to seal the opening to the Fomorian world.” A few bubbles escaped her mouth.
A voice knelled around us, the somber, alien tone of a god. More than blood…
I glanced down at Aenor’s bleeding arm. She’d made a sacrifice, but it wasn’t enough. That was the thing with gods. It was never enough.
As I looked down at the swath of ice again, it seemed to be melting.
“Salem!” she shouted. “You can’t distract me. Can you go now, please? I can barely keep this magic going when I’m focusing.”
I watched her as she concentrated again, conjuring her magic. A burst of power beamed out from her body, slamming into my chest. My body absorbed it.
But I could feel it—the rumbling, the trembling of the ocean floor. Aenor’s magic was considerable, but it wasn’t a god’s magic. They’d needed someone with Shahar’s power to stop the Fomorians from ripping the ocean floor wide open.
Where could I take her, away from this place, where she’d be safe? Let the rest of the world burn. Aenor could live in a rocky cave in the arctic.
I watched her working her magic while I fantasized about things that made no sense. What sort of life would that be—alone in a cave, walls heating around her? Worse than death.
The roaring beneath the earth grew louder, reverberating over my taut muscles.